Introductions
by Inky Perspective
Summary: Life is never as simple in the beginning as it is in the end. In reality, life is all about the exposition: The days that take us from our humble origins and transform us into the hero at the end. Maddie Fenton wasn't always a hero, that was her son's task, but for a while, she could be.


**Summary: **Life is never as simple as the beginning in the end. In reality, life is all about the exposition: The days that take us from our humble origins and transform us into the hero at the end. Maddie Fenton wasn't always a hero, that was her son's task, but for a while, she could be.

**Warnings: **Some slight non-con in the beginning, but it's very minimal. Proceed with some caution if you are triggered very easily, but it's not too heavy. At all. Also, lots of exposition. You think I'm kidding? Oh, no. I am certainly not.

**Disclaimer: **I, Inky Perspective, make no claims to own the rights of _Danny Phantom_. Nor do I have any desire to, as I am content with merely exploring the worlds and scenarios in which the characters reside in.

**Introductions**

**1. Introduction to Beginnings**

_"Was that the beginning, that evening? It's hard to know. Beginnings are sudden, but also insidious. They creep up on you sideways, they keep to the shadows, they lurk unrecognized. Then, later, they spring." _

_**- Margaret Atwood, Der bline Morder**_

When she was fifteen years old, she saw her first ghost. She had been at party; alcohol was flowing through her system, music pounding in her ears. The party had been her best friend's idea. Julia had been working tirelessly to snatch up the senior quarterback, Chad Stanza, and had conceived the party as the ideal environment to make her move. The alcohol would lower her inhibitions enough that she would have fewer reservations when approaching; it would be a calm and relaxing environment. What could go wrong?

Maddie should have known it was a bad idea.

Julia was popular enough that securing the liquor was not particularly challenging, and their guests were bloodhounds, easily following the draw of booze. Finding the location, however, proved to be a bit more of a challenge. Julia's parents rarely left town and Maddie was hesitant to offer up her home. Ultimately the pair resolved to have the event in the abandoned house on the outskirts of town. It was the perfect solution: The house was a topic of intrigue among the younger generation of the town and few adults dared to approach it in fear of what they might find. (The rumored possibility of their children using it as an underground drug ring far too horrifying to even dare try and confirm.)

It worked.

… until it didn't.

At some point in the night, Maddie drifted away from the gyrating crowed, desperate for a breath of fresh air. She was leaning against the splintering balcony, her head resting on the cool glass window behind her when she saw it. The eyes were a brilliant red, positioned in the bushes not three feet from where she stood. She held her breath, leaning forward, stretching her hand out –

And it was gone.

She sighed, running a hand through her hair. _It was just the alcohol_, she told herself. _You're just seeing things, Maddie. _It was not a particularly reassuring train of thought.

Eventually, once she had caught her breath, she made her way back into the building. The party was beginning to die down, the guests either departing or collapsing on the decrepit couches. From the corner of her eye, she could see a few pairs retiring to the abandoned corners of the house, intent on finding some alone time.

Julia wasn't anywhere in sight, nor was her football player.

Maddie knew it was ridiculous to worry. The whole objective of the party was to allow Julia some private time with her crush, after all. She could not quell the worry that was settling in the pit of her stomach, though. From across the room she could see looks of concern on the faces of the football player's friends.

Resolving herself, she began to make her ways up the stairs. With each step she took, the floorboards creaked below her. Not for the first time, Maddie found herself questioning their decision to host the party in a house that, from its appearance, could collapse on them at any given moment.

"Julia?" she called, her hand tightly clutching the railing. She could feel her the splinters digging into her palm, but refused to relinquish her grip. "Julia, where are you?"

At the end of the hall, she heard a thump. And, if she wasn't imagining it, a whimper immediately following it.

_"Julia!"_

She tore down the hall, lunging for the door handle. It seemed fragile in her hand as she yanked, pulling the door open with a sudden burst of strength.

"Julia!"

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, the image presented before her gradually came into view. It was her best friend, her friend since before the pair could even talk, was sprawled across the bed, unmoving. Hovering above her was the football player, Chad. It wasn't entirely Chad, though; Maddie was certain of that. His eyes, generally a soft brown, were a glaring red, creating an unnatural light out of the darkness.

"What have you done to her?" Maddie shrieked, approaching the bed. Her knees were shaking in terror, the color entirely drained from her face, and her heartbeat ratcheting up. She was terrified, but she couldn't leave Julia.

Couldn't.

Wouldn't.

Chad – _no, not Chad … the thing _– turned its gaze to her, assessing.

It raised a hand, gesturing in her direction.

In that moment, Maddie couldn't think. Her mind had gone completely blank in paralyzing fear. It was fortunate that, according to her mother, Maddie had always flourished under adrenaline.

Breaking the gaze of the ghoul possessing her classmate, she dove across the room, grabbing at Julia's hand. The other girl did not stir, but Maddie felt a faint pulse.

_"Somebody! Somebody help us!" _she called, desperate. The music was too loud downstairs, though; the partiers too far gone.

"There's no one to save you, little girl," the creature said in a rasping voice, moving closer to the bed. "No one at all."

And he was right. No one was there to save them.

So it was up to her.

She turned to the creature, tilting her head up at it. "You're right," she confirmed. "No one is coming."

It grinned, Chad's pearl white teeth glinting in the darkness.

"But that doesn't mean we can't save ourselves."

With the utterance of those final words, Maddie grabbed her friend, hoisting her into a fireman's carry, stumbling only slightly. She was momentarily thankful that her mother had insisted on all those self-defense classes. Cynthia Walker had always wanted her daughters to be well prepared in case of emergency; somehow Maddie doubted that this was what she had in mind.

"Screw you," she snarled.

The creature twisted Chad's face into an ugly grimace. "Petulant child," it said. "Do you really think escaping _me_ is that simple?"

For a brief second, Maddie paused.

"Nothing's ever that that simple," she said, taking minute steps towards the door. "Where would the fun in that be?" For a moment, the creature appeared confused, and Maddie took that as her initiative. She sprinted out of the room, Julia still cradled on her shoulders, and down the stairs.

"Salt!" she screamed, finally approaching the party. "Everybody, I need salt!"

It seemed like a rational move, she assured herself later. Salt was, after all, what every horror movie proclaimed, what got the job done best when dealing with a supernatural spook.

Her predilection towards the horror genre was not necessary, however. In the end, the specter never returned to the party. Maddie didn't see those red eyes again, even as Chad stumbled down the stairs, rubbing his forehead, his face screwed up in agony and confusion – as if he had a skull splitting headache.

When she had calmed enough, her breathing returning to normal, she found someone to call an ambulance. Julia was breathing normally again, her heart beat steady, but Maddie wasn't taking any chances. If it meant crashing the party and an imminent grounding, so be it.

It was worth it.

Maddie was ultimately grounded (much to her sister Alicia's amusement), but the time in her room gave her a chance to think.

Her dreams of being a world renowned psychologist had officially been put on the backburner by the end of the month. The world needed a few more paranormal investigators, it seemed.

**II. Introduction to Exposition**

_"Yesterday brought the beginning, tomorrow brings the end, but somewhere in the middle we've become the best of friends."_

**_- Author Unknown_**

When she first met Jack Fenton, she thought he was a bumbling idiot.

It was hard not to.

He was large and so terribly orange. He was enthusiastic about his work to the point of excess and, in that passion, often made a number of mistakes – each more serious than the last. (The accident with Vlad Masters was still a fresh reminder in the back of her mind.)

Somewhere along the way, though, he went from merely being the fool in the front of her Chemistry 200 class to the man she was preparing to marry.

She could not say at what point she began to fall in love with the man. Perhaps it was the time he brought her chicken noodle soup when she missed class under the assumption that she was ill. (She wasn't. She had slept through her alarm, but the incident had left an impression on her mind.) Or maybe it was the time he had offered to stay late in the lab to help her with an experiment. Maybe it wasn't even that. Jack was something special, something different. He was comfortable in who he was, resiliently unwilling to change in order to fit a norm that society had placed upon the world.

She wasn't oblivious, though. She saw the way that Vlad looked at her, the way he glared at Jack – the man who was supposedly his best friend. Five years ago, Maddie knew that had Vlad shown any sort of interest, she would have forgotten about Jack in a heartbeat. Vlad was handsome and intelligent, passionate to a point, but reserved when necessary. He was a nice enough guy.

But Maddie was not fifteen years old anymore.

Eventually she married Jack and the pair moved to Amity Park, Indiana. It was a quiet enough town; a good place to raise children.

For the time, however, children were the last thing on the pair's mind.

Maddie was steadily rising in the ranks as a professional ghost hunter (the town liked to paint them as the laughing stocks, the fools, but Maddie had various titles and awards that proved otherwise) and Jack was making improvements upon his inventions all the time (he was not, however, improving upon the names of said inventions).

The pair was content, happy.

Then Maddie discovered she was pregnant and nine months later, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

Jasmine Fenton was perfect in every way possible, and Maddie knew in that instant that no ghost would ever come into contact with her beloved daughter. She would make sure of that.

For a while, Maddie put aside her ghost hunting. She had reached a stable place in her career and had obtained her Ph.D, becoming one of the leading experts on the subject. Between the pair, and with Jack's constant supply of inventions (even branching out from only ghost related tools in order to further the family income, in some cases), they were financially sound. It was time.

Maddie invested her heart and soul into raising Jazz and, in the meantime, completed the necessary steps towards obtaining her ninth-degree black belt; the incident with Julia still a fervent reminder of the necessity of being in peak physical condition.

When they found out that Maddie was pregnant again, this time with a boy, she was ecstatic.

Without a doubt, Jazz was her father's daughter. Little Daniel, though, with his ebony hair and sky blue eyes, was his mother's pride and joy.

Maddie showered both her children with equal love and adoration, but it was Danny who clung to her side, burying his face into her neck, begging nightly for a story that would transport him to the stars.

Maddie had, all things considered, lived a good life. She had been successful in her career and was surrounded by a wonderful, loving family. There was nothing that could shatter her precious reality.

Until something did.

The night the ghosts attacked Amity Park, Maddie had been reading Danny a bed time story about the wonders of being an astronaut. He had watched her, his blue eyes alit with fascination, shining in the glow of the mobile that still hung above his bed. She had been turning the page, the words on the tip of her tongue, when the screams rang out from the street.

Her son had looked at her with wide, confused eyes.

"…mawmy," he has whispered sleepily. "W'has goin' on?"

"It's okay, sweetie," she murmured, running a hand through his hair. "We're going to go sleep with Jazzy, okay?"

She scooped him up, cradling him in her arms. Jack was still in the basement, and Maddie needed to check on Jazz to make sure she was safe and secure. When she pushed open the door, her six year old was standing at the window, her palms pressed against the glass. At the sound of the door opening, she whirled around, eye wide.

"Mama! What's going on?"

"It's alright, Jazz. I need you to come with me, alright?" she said, hoisting Danny higher on her hip. "We're going to go find Daddy."

Jazz nodded, bringing her hand to her mouth and sucking on her thumb. It was a nervous habit that Maddie and Jack had been working to break; in this instance, Maddie did not say anything. She grabbed her daughter's free hand and the trio made their way down the stairs. When they reached the living room, she saw her husband standing by the door, peering out the curtains.

"It's bad, Mads," he said somberly. Jack was many things, she had come to realize over their years together – somber was not one of them.

"What's going on?" she whispered, desperate to not frighten her children.

"There's a ghost infestation," he responded. "I don't know where they came from, or how they got in. They're coming from the old cemetery."

In later years Maddie would discover that it was the anniversary of a large fire that had killed seven members of the community. It had been an act of murder, she would learn, and murder often made spirits vengeful. The individual who had committed the treacherous act had returned to town, having never been caught in the act. The spirits, it seemed, were finally seeking retribution.

Jack would ultimately call a babysitter, the elderly woman next door, to watch the children, and the pair suited up. For the first time in six years, Maddie found herself in her blue, latex suit, doing what she loved – what she was _good _at. Between the two of them, they managed to resolve the situation with little conflict and few injuries.

However, having stepped back into the action of ghost hunting, the pair decided that the town needed protection and sitting around idly was no way to accomplish that. Jazz and Danny needed to grow up in a safe environment, and Maddie vowed that no harm would ever come to them because their parents had retired.

If it meant they returned to their standing as the joke of the town, so be it.

It was worth it.

**III. Introduction to Finality**

_"Ends are not bad things, they just mean that something else is about to begin. And there are many things that don't really end, anyway, they just begin again in a new way. Ends are not bad and many ends aren't really an ending; some things are never-ending." _

**_- C. JoyBell C._**

She knew it was only inevitable, but the day her children finally grew up – didn't need her anymore – left her winded. She had raised two beautiful, independent children; they could take care of themselves.

That didn't mean there hadn't been some rough patches along the way, though.

For a while, Danny in particular had had a rather arduous path. Your freshman year of high school is supposed to be a time of change, of growth. For years, Maddie had envisioned the type of young adult her son would make. He would be bright, eager to learn. Perhaps not necessarily athletic (she had, after all, been a witness to his fits of clumsiness on numerous occasions), but he was special. For Jazz, everything had come easy. She was driven and intelligent, securing a position at the top of her class almost instantaneously. Jazz was comfortable in who she was and never looked back. Danny, on the other hand, entertained many options. He was artistic and clever – a good friend. Brave.

Maddie was extremely proud of her children.

Then Danny hit his rebellious spell.

She did not know what had gone wrong, what had happened. One day her son was still the beacon of optimism and cheesy jokes, the next he was quiet and reserved. He was angry, more often than not, and frequently returned home bruised and shaky. For a while, Maddie entertained the notion of teaching her son self-defense.

The grades that had once been perfectly average began to tank. The bright red F's littered across countless papers became increasingly frequent.

Maddie, above all else, wanted her son back.

She spent countless nights wondering what it was that had sparked the change in her son. Had the ghost hunting finally become too much? She passed the thought off easily enough, though; Jazz, after all, did not seem terribly afflicted by it.

Sometimes she would still see glimpses of the baby boy she had raised when she caught him in the midst of a joke or funny tale, caught him sneakily reaching his hand into the cookie jar. Her son was still there, but something was different.

Wrong.

When the truth came out (and it inevitably did), Danny was seventeen years old.

They had been in the midst of an argument about college applications. At some point at the end of Danny's sophomore year, he had gotten his act together. The grades that had previously been plummeting were, while not extraordinary, markedly improved. He seemed happier, too; more at ease with himself. At the time, Maddie was finally reassured that her son had returned to her.

The college applications, though, had sparked an announcement that she could not have prepared herself for.

He had been insistent on staying in Amity Park, taking a sabbatical before being college. Maddie and Jack, on the other hand, were adamantly opposed to the suggestion. For the life of them, they could not understand _why _their son was so desperate to remain in Amity Park. Amity Park that had gradually become the center of ghost activity. Amity Park that had never been particularly kind to their family.

At the end of the conversation, Danny had screwed up his eyes in frustration and, when he opened them, they were a brilliant, blinding green.

The rest of the story was told from there.

For years, ghost hunting had dominated her life. It was the central component in who exactly Madeline Walker Fenton was.

Sitting there with her son _floating _before her, half-dead, was the catalyst for realization.

The knowledge that defeating ghosts was a necessity – saving people, vanquishing evil – but it was also a necessity that had killed her son and very nearly tore their family apart.

She couldn't give it up; the people of Amity Park needed them, after all. At that point, though, Maddie vowed to make a change.

For the last twenty-eight years of her life, she had allowed ghosts to rule her life. That one ghost, its red eyes staring at her from across the room, had been a reagent that shaped her entire life and forced her to sacrifice aspects of herself – her family, her sanity – in the process.

It was time to make a change.

**IV. Introduction to Omniscient**

_"We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses."_

**_- Abraham Lincoln _**

When Danny was four years old, he witnessed his first ghost attack. His mom and dad had stepped in, saved the town.

In the years following the event, his parents (and he and his sister by default) were labeled as the misfits of the town. _"Those eccentric Fentons…"_ they all said. It wasn't always crude, it wasn't always offensive; sometimes it was just an observation.

It still hurt.

It wasn't until Danny was much older that he realized why, exactly, it hurt so much to hear his family discussed so flippantly. There was the obvious, of course: They were his family, and no one outside of it were allowed to speak negatively of it. In the months following his accident with the portal, however, he finally began to truly understand.

His parents worked relentlessly to protect the town.

They weren't perfect at it – far from it. More often than not, they did more damage than good. (Especially, and unfortunately, when it came to Danny himself.)

The important thing to take away from it, though, was that they _tried._ Amity Park had been nothing but horrible to them, belittling them at almost any opportunity presented to it, yet his mother and father worked relentlessly to keep it safe. To protect it.

His mother had raised him and his sister, had done it while fighting to uphold scientific integrity, to help keep the town (and world) safe. When he had revealed his secret, the decision he had agonized over for years, she had looked at him calmly, her eyes filled with tears, and hugged him so tightly he thought his ribs might crack.

She accepted him wholeheartedly, vowing to do everything within her power to make up for the damage that she had inadvertently caused.

(In Danny's opinion, there was nothing to make up for.)

So in the years that passed, when he finally settled down, married, and had his own daughter, it wasn't even a question as to what he would name her. As he looked into those dark green eyes, so like her mother's, he knew, without a doubt, that little Madeline Fenton would be the best person you could be.

With a namesake like that, how could she not be the most caring, brave, and incredible woman imaginable? He was sure, too, that her grandmother wouldn't mind providing a little assistance in that department.

_**fin. **_

* * *

**Author's Note: **This started when I was eavesdropping in my business writing class, and somehow sparked a desire to write about Maddie Fenton. I love secondary characters dearly (almost as much as I love introspective exposition), and Maddie Fenton was one of my favorite characters to read about when I was still immersed in the Danny Phantom fandom.

Also, on that note, it's been a while since I've written/read anything in this fandom, so if I have some details off kilter, let me know. As far as the mother of Danny's daughter, I suppose her identity is up to you, my dear readers. (I know who I envisioned, but it's not particularly important to the story.)

It's wonderful to be writing again, and hopefully this is not the last you'll see of me. So, please, don't forget that reviews are a form of miracle grow for writers. Just a thought. :) If you're so inclined, also, definitely check me out on tumblr: inkyperspective, there as well. :)

Thanks for reading! _(and reviewing?)_


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